Logano Confident No. 22 NASCAR Ford Team Is A Playoff Threat

NASCAR Ford driver and two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano almost left the Charlotte Roval disappointed. His eighth-place result at the hybrid oval road course wasn’t enough to propel him into the Round of 8 – that is, until his competitor, Alex Bowman, was disqualified after his No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1 didn’t clear postrace inspection. Logano now looks forward to the Round of 8 and beyond, and he expects his team to be a legitimate threat in the 2024 title hunt.

Logano had returned home and was playing a game with friends when he found out that Bowman  had been disqualified and his Playoff berth revoked, according to a report from NASCAR.com. While there wasn’t much time between the end of the race and the time he started to receive notifications, Logano said that it was time enough to experience a “rollercoaster of emotions.”

“I was starting to move forward,” Logano said. “You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected, and honestly, by the time I was driving home, my wife and I were talking about something far more important than what we were doing at the race track. My mind was already starting to shift on what were the next moves and kind of getting over the race. Then I started hearing the rumors from there, and the phone started to ring shortly after.”

Despite being caught off-guard by the news, Logano says that he’s confident in his No. 22 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse team, and that they can turn their season around by the time the final race rolls around in November.

“Like I said before, from the outside looking in, you look at it and say, ‘Well, they haven’t had as many top fives. They haven’t had as many top 10s. They haven’t been as competitive,’” Logano said. “Who cares? We’ve lived this story many times before. Yeah, would it be easier if you had more playoff points? Yeah, but you know what? You win this weekend, and you’re sitting as the favorite going into Phoenix, so it changes like that, and that’s with the playoff system that we have.”